• Member Since 12th Dec, 2011
  • offline last seen Last Thursday

Impossible Numbers


"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying, And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying."

E

Cloudchaser is the perfect big sister: cool, calm, collected, and carefree. Flitter is a lot of things – most of them insanely annoying – but she’ll always see her sister as a true paragon.

That’s because Cloudchaser’s determined to act like one. Always. No matter what the cost.

So when they both apply for the Wonderbolt Academy, and only one of them gets in, it’s a very bad time to let the façade crack under the sudden pressure.

Then again, why not crack? After all, she’s walked on the edge of the storm every day. She has to stop acting sometime.

Storms that strong can’t hide forever.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 12 )

Nicely done! I always wondered why they were never are shown together, based on how they almost always appeared before together.

This was proberbly one of my favorite characterizations of these two I've ever read. It was clear and concise while being detailed and thought provoking, and I found myself sympathizing with the emotional states of both characters. Well done!

Thank you very much for the comments. A treat to see people getting something out of my work, I can tell you. :twilightsmile:

10324203

Oh yes, it often gets my interest whenever closely associated characters each appear on their own at some point. For one thing, characterization becomes somewhat easier to pin down when they have a distinct appearance elsewhere.

Flitter appearing in "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" is one example; that was what inspired the idea that Flitter's actually quite skilled at gentler, subtler flying, rather than just a weak flyer in general (I'd had that other idea in my head long before this fic).

With background characters, as with most things, a lot of the good stuff's in the little details.

10324210

Thank you for the high praise! :scootangel:

I'm particularly pleased I managed to gain some sympathy for both of them: Flitter above all I thought might be tricky, because sometimes she came close to seeming too bratty or whiny. What I wanted to make clear was the contrast between the two sisters in terms of how they dealt with their feelings, without being too extreme or unsympathetic.

So this feedback is good to hear. Thanks again! :scootangel:

10324738

Oh, the "complex" thing might be because, with shorter fics, I tend to pack a lot in. There's always this thing whenever I'm writing character pieces where I'm hoping to get a thorough sketch out, both of who the characters are and of what kind of life they live.

Hm, now you mention it, I do wonder now if this needs a "Sad" tag, given it does have that tragic theme you pointed out: Cloudchaser means well, but she is in an emotionally unhealthy place, and the irony of it is that, for all Flitter's obvious tantrums and childishness, she might actually be the less dependent and better-adjusted sibling.

I think both of them are unhealthy in a way (I wanted to get across that Flitter's emotional outbursts can be too much to handle as well), or at least flawed ponies. What keeps them afloat is that their reliance on each other gives them something strong to lean against whenever it starts getting too much for them; I was trying to balance it out with a happier ending that suggested they might do all right after all.

That's why I used the "Drama" tag, mainly because I think there's enough scope to see things optimistically. But I could be wrong and this leans more in "Sad" territory...

Briefly put, I found your comment interesting to read, and now it's got me thinking a bit about how I might portray these two.

10325572
You are very welcome!

If you don't mind me asking, which of the two do you think suit for Thunderlane? Just cirious

10325580

There's not a huge amount of evidence either way, but I generally assume Cloudchaser, based on that affectionate head-rub she gives him in "Hurricane Fluttershy". Plus the fact that she got into the academy along with him, so she might be about his skill-level and have the same interests.

It could be just a friendly thing rather than, say, romance, but it's more evidence than I've seen for Flitter, so Cloudy's the way I'd lean.

10325586
Good point. Me, I could never decide, so they both are just friends with Thunderlane in my story

10325622

The sad part is if the two just dropped the roles, and sought affection from each other outside of the confines of their respective prisons, both would be happier.

The real irony is that it's clear that Flitter actually asks the question, but Cloudchaser is so determined to keep things the way they are (because she doesn't believe her sister can deal with it any other way) that she denies it.

This is a nice story and Cloudchaser really needs to be honest with her sister and herself since it would be better for both of them. It seems Flitter is concerned for her sister precisely because Cloudchaser is trying to assure Flitter that nothing is wrong with her.

10450587

That's exactly right. Such are the troubles and trials that siblings bring. I'm glad you enjoyed this story of mine. :twilightsmile:

I originally read this when it first came out, and I recall thinking of it as being nothing special at the time. I must not have been the right mindset then, because I just read through it again and I actually really like it now. It's very nice to see the dynamic between two siblings who care for each other in their own way.

10535006

Myself, I'm more surprised when fics about background characters garner this much attention. Ask me at the point of publication, I'd have agreed it wasn't anything particularly special either. Not bad, of course, but chiefly a sort of characterization exercise to keep my hand in. (Mostly because I'd have some more ambitious work in mind).

I'd had these two bouncing around in my head for a while, and I'd still like to revisit them in a future fic, Flitter in particular because of some parallels between her and Fluttershy I want to expand upon.

Although I'm really pleased with how Cloudchaser turned out in this fic: before now, I'd basically put her in a simple "cool big sis" role with maybe a vain streak regarding her mane. This gave me a chance to build something more complicated out of her sisterly relationship.

What a delightfully artistic view of two people trapped in such a terribly toxic relationship. It's so easy to see, from the outside, how painfully the two are hurting each other - hurting themselves - without being able to see it, but by the exact same merit it's also so obvious why they can't help but cling to each other.

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